A Ninja Email Autoresponder Trick You Can Use to Save Time and Make More Money

By Pat Flynn on November 19, 2013

Today I was supposed to publish an epic tutorial style post about how to host a webinar for free using Google Hangouts on Air. I spent 8 hours on the post so far but decided just now to wait to hit the publish button because I wanted to test a couple more things before I share the tutorial with you.

I’ll be hosting my 2nd free monthly live Q&A session on Monday, December 9th at 3:00pm PST where I’ll be using these methods and testing these things out. After that’s over, it should just be another day or two before I hit publish on the post. I only want to bring the best information to you about this because I know you’re going to rock these webinars you’ll be hosting for your audience in the future!

In the meantime, I had this post up my sleeve for a while and am excited to take this opportunity to share it with you.

You Have an Email Autoresponder Series, Right?

I’m a huge fan of using email autoresponder sequences – a series of pre-written follow-up emails that are sent sequentially and automatically to your subscribers over time after they’ve subscribed to your list. Most email service providers include this feature.

It’s a great way to keep in constant contact with your audience over time and build rapport without you having to do any extra work beyond the work that you need to invest up front to write your emails.

Plus, it keeps your list warm so when you do send broadcast emails, your open rates are much higher and people are more likely to take action.

When I started my email list back in 2010, there were about 5 or 6 emails in my initial sequence. You don’t have to start with very many. Over time, I’ve added more, and today new subscribers are taken through a series of 35 emails over the course of an entire year. I’ll probably add even more.

There are a few special things I like to include in my autoresponder emails that I always recommend you do:

1. Make sure the first email in your follow-up series is mind-blowing, and preferably something that people can see instant results from.

I share my best tip first because that first impression is so important, and I want people to stick around and look forward to the rest of the emails in the series, and open them too.

2. Include a “poll” type question in one of your earlier emails. In the 4th or 5th email that is sent, I ask the following question:

“What would you like to see me write a blog post about?”

As a result, since people are signing up to my email list every single day, I get a constant stream of responses, daily, from my audience telling me exactly what kind of content I should be publishing.

No more guessing involved.

Another great question to ask is:

“What are you struggling with right now?”

The fact that you’re asking people on your list to reply goes a very long way, and it helps your audience feel like they’re involved in your brand too.

Those aren’t ninja tricks though – that’s just smart content to include in certain emails within your autoresponder series.

A Ninja Autoresponder Trick You Can Use Today

The trick I’m about to share with you I’ve been testing during the past two weeks. I’ll explain what my results were in just a minute, but let me tell you what the trick can do for you first.

How would you like to include a call to action in all of your autoresponder emails – a call to action that, at any moment in timeyou can change in one location and it will update the call to action in all of the automated emails in your series.

Promoting a product? Hosting a webinar soon? Featured on a well-known website? Planning a meetup? Need extra traffic to a particular podcast or post that you just wrote?

Awesome! Instead of going into each email individually, you just have to change the call to action in one spot, and it will be included in all of the automated emails that go out.

This allows you to dynamically include and control specific, real time content in previously-written, automated content.

It’s incredibly powerful!

If you have 35+ emails like I do in your series, then this trick is a golden time-saver. If you’re just starting to write your sequence, this is good too because you’ll be all setup and won’t have to go back and change anything in the future to make this happen.

Just think – if you have an email list of 1000 people that you send an automated email to each week (assuming they aren’t at the end of your auto-responder sequence), that’s 1000 opportunities, every week (or 4000 opportunities every month) to get your subscribers to take some sort of extra action.

Of course, open rates play a role here, but that shouldn’t stop you from utilizing this strategy.

You could take it a step further and have all of your automated emails go out on specific days of the week, so you know and can track when your calls to actions are actually sent.

For example, I’ve setup my autoresponder emails to only be sent to subscribed on Wednesday or Thursday. I do this because I like to leave the other days open for potential broadcast emails and I can avoid sending two emails to a single subscriber in one day.

It also allows me to strategically place and time a call to action much better too.

The calls to actions don’t have to be for direct promotional purposes either. If you have nothing “real time” going on, perhaps it’s following you on Twitter, and then later you can change it to becoming a fan on Facebook.

The possibilities are endless with this type of application.

So How Do You Do It?

If you use Aweber(affiliate link – I earn a commission if you buy), this will be very simple to do. I’ve looked to see if other email service providers include this sort of function, and as far as I can tell, they don’t.

They should though, and maybe after reading this article, they will. It should be a standard feature in my opinion.

Anyway, here’s how you can add a “snippet” in Aweber. If you don’t have Aweber, I’ll share a workaround you can use that follows the same principle.

Step 1: Log into Aweber and Click on List Options -> List Settings (making sure your current list is the one you want)

Step 2: Click on Personalize Your List to toggle those options below.

Step 3: Scroll down to Global Text Snippets.

Step 4: Name your Snippet in the ‘Name’ field.

Step 5: Insert your Call to Action in the ‘Snippet Text’ field.

You’re allowed up to 100 characters in the ‘Snippet Text’ field. Links will be clickable in HTML emails, but make sure to include “http://” – use Bit.ly to shorten your links to get even more space.

Step 6: Click Add.

For the name, I put: calltoaction

For the snippet text / call to action, I put: Join me for a Live Q&A Session on 12/9! Click here: https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/hangout

You’ll see that under the name I chose for this snippet (and you can create as many of these as you’d like), it says:

{!global calltoaction}

This is the tag we’re going to insert into our emails. Wherever this tag is inserted, the snippet text / call to action text we put will be included. We can change and update that text at anytime here, and it’ll be updated in any new emails that go out after saving.

Step 7: In a Follow-Up email, click on Personalize to open up the personalization tags. Scroll to the bottom of that list and click on the tag with the name of the snippet you created in Step 4. This will add that tag into your email.

When the emails get sent, where ever you placed that tag, your snippet text / call to action will show up. See email below:

Please note that when you create a custom tag like this, Aweber automatically adds an additional one with the word “fix” next to it. It looks like this:

{!global_fix calltoaction}

Whenever you see “fix” in Aweber’s personalization tags, that simply means that Aweber will capitalize the first letter of every new word. See below:

The only time this would work for us is when we personalize an email with someone’s name. Sometimes people don’t capitalize their first or last name in their email forms, so using {!firstname_fix} is always better than using {!firstname}, just for that particular reason.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve used this strategy to insert a call to action at the end of my emails to vote for the SPI Podcast for top business podcast award, linking to PodcastAwards.com. During the two week trial, I was able to get an additional 639 clicks to vote. There was no noticeable increase in unsubscribes.

Where you place the call to action, and exactly what you say can obviously affect your click-through rates. And remember -your email has other copy in it that serves a primary purpose (so these tags may or may not make sense to include in every single email), but as you can see, including an extra call to action can help you get get more clicks for something, and including these tags is a smart way to give you an opportunity to change and update where you’d like to send people.

If You Don’t Use Aweber

If you don’t use Aweber, that’s okay. There may be options for other email service providers that I haven’t found yet. If you use something other than Aweber and know something like this is possible, please share where you might find similar options in the comment section below.

If no snippet-type options are available, here’s a solution that uses the same principle:

Instead of creating a global tag that can be updated in one spot, you can include an image in your email that has call-to-action text. The image could be updated “in one swoop” simply by replacing the image file with a different image of the same filename, and the link (when the image is clicked on) could be updated in one spot using a redirecting tool like one of my favorite WordPress plugins, Pretty Link.

The image could be a banner ad type image to something you’re working on right now, or it could even be an image made to look like text within your emails. If you don’t want any images to show during a particular moment in time, then you could just replace the image with another one of the same filename that’s a 1×1 white pixel.

Of course, this is a little more complicated and requires you to create image files (which some email clients like gmail require a person to click “display images below” to see), but it can still yield those additional clicks that you’d miss out on in your automated auto-responder emails.

After starting an email autoresponder sequence, it can be easy to forget that your subscribers are constantly and consistently getting emails from you over time. Don’t forget, because these automated emails can be used to your advantage for real time things you have to share.

What do you think of this strategy? How will you be using it in your email autoresponder sequence? Please let me know in the comment section below.

This is great Pat. I am looking forward to that Hangout tutorial since I use Hangouts for all of my interviews. Thanks for the autoresponder tips.

I’m also looking forward to hearing you on John Lee Dumas’s Podcasters Paradise webinar tonight! I also featured your newsletter in a guest post that is being published tomorrow on the Entrepreneur on Fire blog, hopefully you will love it!

I just got to know InfusionSoft very well last week because I went to one of their conferences. I don’t use it myself, but I saw exactly how powerful it is, especially for “if this than that” sequences in your autoresponder and sales funnel.

It is VERY complicated though, which is why they have certification programs for people to help clients out – but I’ve heard good things about it.

I checked, and they do NOT have this feature yet. I bugged them about it 😉

Sweet! Glad you like the redesign, and stoked this post is helpful to you!

Dr Jessica

Totally confused about how I’d do this with MailChimp? Go through all the autoresponders and insert an image, that directs to a particular web page, but change the content of that page based on my current call to action? The image would have to be generic enough to apply to a variety of offers? Help! Plus, heck yeah on the redesign! A little birdie told me the all mighty Chase Reeves helped out, so of course it looks rad.

At the bottom of your emails, you include a image with the file name promoimage.jpg.

Maybe at first, this image is an image of your face and some text that says, “Join the Community on My Facebook Page! Click here!”

Later on, you want to direct people to Twitter, so you create a NEW image, with the exact same filename (promoimage.jpg), and literally replace that other image with the new one.

Since you’re changing the actual file, it changes everywhere that file is placed.

For the link, you could have it link in the emails to a link you create in Pretty Link, like yourwebsite.com/promo. One day it could redirect to your Facebook Page (for your first image), and your Twitter Page when you update it for that one.

And yes, Chase Reeves was the mastermind behind the redesign. We made a few updates based on comments, but yes – that man is a genius.

Dr Jessica

Thank you, Pat! I get it now!

barrypenner

Pat, I’m just in the process of setting my list up so it’s perfect timing to build this into the flow. Thanks!

I saw Mergetags in Mailchimp but it wasn’t as easy as adding your copy in a field to change it in one spot. Can I change the MergeTag value in the future to achieve the same effect, or would I have to add a whole new mergetag when I want a different call to action (which would mean it would not work the same way)?

Mijael Brandwajn

I admit it’s not as easy as Aweber (which I can’t use because they don’t support other languages other than English).

However, Mailchimp does allow you to change the default value whenever you want without having to add another mergetag.

They would be “list specific” -which might be a good thing for certain people, and a bit of a pain for others.

Mergetags were not really designed with this application in mind, but it’s a “workable” solution…

You’ve been very busy tackling huge projects lately. While I appreciate them and enjoy watching their progress, I find it refreshing to get back to one of these simple “here’s a quick, powerful, actionable tip that can help you tremendously” types of posts. Hopefully we will continue to get these!

Thanks once again, Pat.

By the way…

The Amazon card I won on ‘Let Go Day’ a few months back went to good use: buying “Rework” by Jason Fried and David Hansson. I really enjoyed the book and how it was broken into very small, digestible chunks (I’ve never been one for sitting and reading a book for great lengths of time… audiobooks and Podcasts are more my speed!)

Anyway, I operate a blog and podcast which is about becoming a better DJ through passion and purpose. As I was reading Rework, I kept finding that I was running into potential post topic after potential post topic. It’s amazing how many parallels that I have found between improving business savvy and improving just about any other aspect of your life… whether it’s DJing, playing the piano, scrapbooking or whatever else it is that you’re passionate about.

I share this both as a point of inspiration, and as an actionable tip. I went back through the book with a set of Post-It Notes and took note of everything that I thought could be “spun” (for lack of a better term) into something relevant to my audience. For example, page 80 of the book has a small section called “Be a curator”… which is perfectly relevant to my audience of passionate DJs. That led to me writing a post titled, “How to be a Curator, Not an iPod”.

By the time I was through the book, I had 10 or 15 new post topics ready to go. Just goes to show that inspiration can come from anywhere. When it comes to blogging and podcasting, it’s just like many other things: you’ll be surprised at how differently you think about everything when you shift your focus on providing value. And there is no shortage of places to gain inspiration!

You and the SPI brand have, as well, been a source of inspiration for me. I have noticed how well providing value and producing awesome content has worked for you, and have tried to emulate that approach. It’s a slow start, but it’s working… so many thanks to you and the SPI community for teaching so much and leading by example.

Thanks David – it was nice to write one of these up again too to be honest. I’m still moving forward with all the big things going on, but yeah – these small tips I know go a long way, so thank you for the kind words about that.

And so cool to hear about Rework and how it related to DJ-ing for you. Did you know I used to DJ back in college? Nothing big, but I did a couple of weddings and use to spin at house parties. I miss those days!

My turntables (Technics) were stolen, so I haven’t been able to get back into it yet.

Thanks again for your support!

David Michael

Thanks for your reply, Pat.

Yes, I did remember hearing that you did some DJing back in the day. I tried to ask you in a live chat session if you ever dabbled back into it, but it got lost in the rest of the noise.

I love my old trusty Technics! But I feel your pain. I had about $3500 worth of gear stolen from me at a gig, once (including a Macbook Pro). The only good thing that came out of it is my first email in my autoresponder series: “How Getting All My Gear Stolen Nearly Killed My Interest in DJing”.

Will be keeping an eye out for future posts, both quick tips AND mega projects. 🙂

Oh man, sorry to hear that – that’s worse, except the person who stole them from me was (used to be a) friend, i thought, and he ended up selling the tables. I’d love to get back into it though! We should have a sesh together sometime 🙂

David Michael

That would be awesome! If only there were a practical way to accomplish that online. Well, if you’re ever anywhere near southwest OH, I will always have a pair of decks open for you!

I hear you on the friend thing too… Mind was stolen by someone else In my local scene that I knew. That aspect hurt worse than the financial hit. But, hey, live and learn!

Wow, just learned something new about you, Pat. ; ) I think you need to bust out the turntables at your next big presentation, just like you have busted out the old trumpet.

Linda

Another simple way to do this, available in all mailers, would be to include the call to action in your signature file which appears automatically in each email. You’d have to fiddle with the visuals to make it look as if the CTA appeared before the real signature. It’s not as powerful as bunging the CTA in the middle of your email, of course, but it would work.

Can you elaborate and tell me why? I’m still testing and want to hear directly from those who are using the comment section. The quality of the comments have gone way up I’ve noticed, and i”s way easier for me to reply to people. And spam is virtually non-existent, but yeah it’s not as easy to leave a comment as before. Thoughts?

Well idk maybe I just hate change but I love the new design. I just hate giving yet another third party(disqus) my email and information. Also I already had a disqus account but I remember that it was a really huge hassle for me to create one as it takes time. If I want to post a comment on the fly now I can’t. But being a blogger myself I can see the advantages of no spam but the advantages are really only for the blogger not the readers. Just my opinion either way I’ll keep reading! See ya at NMX live!

Looking good, looking good. Honestly, I have never had a problem with any of your previous site designs. I know you like to change things up a bit…you can’t help it! Lol:) Anyway, about this post. As always, you deliver only the best content for us to step up our game. I appreciate you.

WOW! I could probably stop there (but I wont). This was an amazing post. This is new to me and I will be putting up aweber next week. Whats amazing is that this tutorial is detailed, clear and extremely understandable.
Thank you so much for the time you put into this post! Wishing you the best, Mary

I haven’t hit any snags since using Disqus. It seems as though once you’re signed in on a device, it doesn’t require you to do so again. The single sign-on is an advantage to me. Quite a few website with heavy traffic seem to use it without a problem. I have light traffic and still growing my readership, but I’m happy with Disqus so far. I’ve had it for several months.

Hi Pat,
Great article and this made me look into your other articles on auto responding. I do have a few questions. After you set up the 20 or so AR emails, do you then set up a schedule to write a new one every month/week to keep the content fresh for people? or does it turn to a broadcast email? If you are only creating AR emails, the number of them could get big after a while, especially with you sending them out all the time. I am just not sure what happens after the subscriber gets through all the ARed ones, and if you just keep making AR emails do you have to make sure that your content in them is not date sensitive? I.E. the reason for the snippets? Thanks again Pat for your hard work on this, and I love the new site design.

When people reach the end of your AR, they are essentially waiting for the next one. When you write another one, everyone who is at the end of the sequence will get another one, so to them it’s sort of like a broadcast, but it doesn’t have to be written like one (i.e. saying “today I”, or “next week” etc. – unless you have that controlled snippet in there).

Mel

What a neat trick! We use Mailchimp, but I see that you included a ninja trick for that platform as well. Will definitely keep that in mind for the future.

That said, I’m having trouble figuring out what to DO with our email lists. We have lists for 3 different sites, totaling around 1200 subscribers. The sites are for different niches, but they’re all informational sites about specific topics (2 are for TV shows, 1 is for an artist). We aren’t giving tips on productivity or advice on how to decorate on a dime. We send an email about new episodes/projects, but when the shows are on hiatus or in between the artist’s projects, it doesn’t seem like there’s much of relevance to send to our subscribers. Any thoughts on that? And what kind of autoresponder series could we set up?

You could ask questions and try to get people involved in one way or another, or talk about stories of people watching your shows and what they’ve taken action on (sort of like testimonials). Tips and things like that could be good fillers, or maybe special / highlighted parts from some of your previous episodes. And you can expand on some things via email as well that people previously watched or listened to.

Hi Pat,
So that’s what you’re suppose to do with that Global Snippet section:) Thanks so much for this ninja tip – I have one question though. So we still have to go inside each autoresponder email that we already have and add the code right? Meaning if I have 35 Autoresponder emails, I need to go and edit each one. And will this work in both html and text formats?

By the way, your site looks AMAZING! I love the new design. Although I think most of us would follow you no matter what the site looked like:)
-Lisa

😉 Happy To Help! I’ve got all sorts of hacks I could show you. Lemme know if you want to start tagging subscribers based on the links they click, or automatically switch lists based on the actions they take.

There’s all sorts of tricks up my sleeve 😛

Nina Elisabeth Evensen

So glad I found you. I’ve been unsubscribing quite a few lists I’ve been on lately, but know for sure you’re the one to keep. You’re Awesome! 🙂

Very well deserved. You stand out Pat! And the way you do it teaches us all a lot that is absolutely priceless. I’ve even made a folder just for your emails, so I can keep them and can come back too them. Much love and appreciation 🙂

I so agree with you! I just deleted myself from 8 other lists and felt overwhelmed with information and hype. This is refreshing and real. But I am finding the site addicting – lol can’t stop reading, listening and learning. 🙂

Awesome Michael – thanks for the kind words, and all the best to you! Collecting subs through YouTube is a great idea. A UPS box might be a better choice because you have a legit looking address.

P.O. Boxes, for example, cannot be uses for official businesses addresses in most states. At least for when signing up to incorporate.

Steve – Textfly

Boom, what an awesome post. Great timing too, I was just in the aweber interface the other day playing around with it, and noticed these text snippets and was wondering how they might be useful – and then you published this.

Awesome post. Love it. Thanks for sharing Pat.

I also am bowled over by your new skin, it’s pretty freaking clean, but I can’t help feel confused by the ‘Powered by OptinSkin’ I thought your skin was custom built on Thesis 2.1?

Excellent post, Pat. It’s obvious you put a lot of time into your posts, and I appreciate the quality. The new site looks great too!

Anyway, this post is timely since I plan on creating some autoresponder campaigns for my wife’s blog (100 Days of Real Food). We’ve worked hard to build the list – which is growing at 11k per month! – and now is the time to tap into the power of that list.

So to my question…how many emails a week do you think is too many? We currently do a weekly digest with links to all new blog posts. I’d like to add an autoresponder for new subscribers as you’ve recommended. Then we may have 1 or 2 promo emails in a month (for an affiliate product). Finally we want to do a special autoresponder for a “100 Days of Real Food Tips” series (that would be a separate opt-in). Thoughts?

I think as long as the subscribers expectations are set up front for what they are signing up for, then you don’t need to worry – even if it’s daily. You’ll have to test and see what your audience responds to best, but it’s really up to you and how you set the expectations for what will work best. Congrats on your awesome sized list!

dtayl20

Pat. Aweber has some great features and this is certainly one of them. Nice work on the website. It looks fantastic. You have persisted with thesis. I’d like to know why you stuck with it and didn’t look at another framework. Thesis 2 was a difficult transition. Also interesting that you are using disqus to manage your comments. I’d like to hear your thoughts on these.

I have (persisted with Thesis) – Thesis is still not quite out of the box, and from 1 to 2 was a nightmare I heard, but 2.1.1 out of the box is almost there I feel. The benefits from the cleanliness of the code and platform are worth it in my opinion though, but it can be very intimidating at first.

I’ll talk more about this and Disqus when I come out with my post outlining all of the decisions made for this new redesign. I appreciate your support!

Fawkes

Pat, you are amazing. I am publishing a new website which should be up and ready by next Monday. I’ve been listening to your podcasts and enjoying your blog (and emails) for almost a year now. Thank you for taking the hocus pocus out of internet business!

Brilliant. Especially love the setting autoresponder emails to Wed/Thur so that your sequences don’t overlap with organic broadcasts. Simple but powerful idea that I will certainly be implementing as well.

Thanks for this, Pat. I’d love to set up some autoresponders, but can’t justify the cost for premium memberships (like Aweber – which I would like to get to). Are there any other ways to do autorespoders without money?

Understood Joshua, although the email list is truly one of the most important assets in any business or blog in my opinion, but I get what you mean. MailChimp, I believe, has a free offer for the first 500 subscribers, I believe, but you’re not going find a free service because it costs them money to send emails and keep databases like this, unfortunately.

They have always lacked behind MailChimp and Aweber in terms of native integration.

Zapier has pretty much solved any integration issues they had.

I’ve been using GetResponse for over a year now and am very satisfied.

Jessie Ford

I’m also very satisfied with GetResponse cause it’s very easy and intuitive for a begginer like me and I can choose from unique and professionally designed e-mail templates.If you want to know something more- try visit their page http://www.getresponse.com/ Take care!

ciaran

I need to try free trial version of GetResponse- maybe it will be better than mailchimp…

I hadn’t heard of this trick before… and I’m kicking myself because it could have been helpful. I’m sure there are other great Aweber tricks that I could learn. I love that you shared this. Thanks, Pat.

I was kicking myself too when I learned about this – I was like, oh man! This is huge! Glad you can benefit from it John!

Messages by Lise

I’ve learnt more from you in the past few days from reading your blog than I have after paying thousands of dollars on training. You are a great role model and inspiration. Wish more people were like you and showed they practiced what they teach .

You are absolutely right Lisa! I am using email software for a long time but I haven’t read/heard anyone using this one simple yet brilliant technique that Pat shared. Pat, thanks a lot for this cool info and especially the last workaround for those who are not using aweber -simply clever!

Tracy Kennedy

Currently I am using Getresponse and am not sure if it has this feature but surely they have added several mind blowing features through the years as explained here: http://hcl.link/Getr

Glen Craig

Just popped this into Pocket since I know I’ll be re-reading this! Awesome snippet trick.

This post initially irritated me due to the high expectations I have developed for your work. But after reading the post, I realized you were up to your usual helpful self by providing another great tip to your readers. From any other blogger, I would have been thoroughly pleased.

Hmm, why were you irritated exactly in the beginning? Care to expand on that because I’m very interested? Could I have done something better in the beginning so you wouldn’t feel that way? Just looking to improve over here. Thanks Spencer!

Spencer Rowland

The source of my “irritation” came from the headline. Whenever I see “ninja trick” paired with “make more money” in blog titles, I get turned off. However, like I mentioned, the post was legit as always. But, I still couldn’t help but be disappointed since I was hoping your next post would be NSD 2.0 or site redesign related. I’m picky. I know it. But you’ve spoiled me so you must live with the consequences.

Haha – thanks for being honest Spencer. Yeah, I don’t really like to use overused terms like that, but Ninja really describes this tactic because it truly is something that’s been there forever and most people don’t know about it. Couldn’t think of a better work. More content to come!

Pat, good post and amazing redesign. I really mean it. It’s very rare that one gets to like a new look of an old and familiar design. There are websites I still can’t stand even though they’ve got amazing content and have been using a different design for nearly a year, but this is really good – clean, simple and very you – ie organised, thorough and transparent.
keep it up!

This was really helpful Pat! I just switched over to AWeber after blasting through the free 2000 users that MailChimp offer and this was a huge question for me I hadn’t bothered to research yet! Perfect timing!

hi pat, love the new facelift, and your laid back helpful and humble style. a bit confused about the follow up series though. 30 something? could you either point me to a former post you might have about follow up messages, or give an example of what you might put in so many pre-written follow up emails? thanks,confused in CT

Hi Suzen, check out the article that’s linked to at the end of the post (4 autoresponder series). As far as content, it’s shorter tips and content that wouldn’t be enough for an entire blog post, but still hit it home.

suzen pettit

Aha, got it and will check out post . Thanks pat can’t wait to implement

If you add this and don’t want any call to action to show up, would you just remove the content of the snippet and leave the code in the email? Then when you have a new one, add new content of snippet but still never go edit the emails?

Pat, once again a great post. I agree with others. You share such a wealth of knowledge. less tech savvy people can pick up quite easily from the detailed posts that you create. Thanks for sharing.

I did have a question. From listening to one of your old podcasts (if I remember well) I thought you used to use thesis theme for your website. your new website looks very cool by the way. are you still using thesis? Do you have a recommendation on any other not so expensive theme that would work for less tech inclined folks?

Appreciate all the help!

Sally.

RM .BeRichAndRich.Com

This is a great idea and stuffs! I will try this tips with my website! Thanks Pat. 🙂

I’d really appreciate if you could take a minute to tell me how you’ve created the edge and shadow effect on the images in this post. Did you use SnagIt, Photoshop or is it some type of wordpress plugin.

Like the new website, niche dual site and your training on various things in the internets world. Been following you for a while. Keep up the good work and live it up. How would you compare aweber to the others like “getresponse”, “infusionsoft”, or “office autopilot”?

Dustin Saiidi

Hey Pat,
I tried the snippet trick and found that the link wasn’t clickable in a test email to my yahoo account, even though I’m using an html template. Any ideas?

Dustin Saiidi

I’m trying to make the link clickable in an html email, but can’t. Aweber rep told me: “When using the snippet feature, there is no way to hyperlink the text…Some email providers may render it differently, but I assure, that the link will not be clickable” ?? Any ideas?

Tyler Basu

Wow. Awesome post. I have been using Aweber for nearly 2 years and never knew I could use the snippet feature to include a call to action in previously written follow ups. I will certainly be implementing this.

Thanks for the great guide Pat. I’m just getting started in implementing an auto responder series so this is great stuff. I’m using MailChimp though so I have to figure out if they have the same functionality.

Just following up: you can accomplish this in MailChimp too with a workaround. In the required footer content text box, you can add a message or links and this will be updated across your emails for that list. It’s in the settings section for the list.

However, if you have multiple lists, then you’ll have to update the “required footer content” box for each list when you want to update the message.

It seems that {!firstname_fix}is now default in Aweber, when you choose First Name from the ‘personalize’ menu. I’ve just tested it on my broadcast.

Solomon Mwale

Thank you so much sharing this detailed step by step tutorial for the us. I have really learnt something. It is really very difficult to get these tutorial that easily online like this thank you so much again.

Solomon Mwale

Sorry Paf have ever tried mail chimp and what are your comments with regard to mail chimp.

Christine

I guess an e-mail auto responder containing too much
formality does not work effectively. Thanks for the idea of adding follow-up
questions to engage people.

cleonlim

Have some really good ideas in this article. I am glad I read this. I’ll come again to read more of your work. Keep on penning.

Just came across your blog and have been reading through it for the last ten minutes. It’s good stuff. I’ve tried MailChimp a few times but I’ve never really been able to build a list and actually make use of it. Email marketing is now in trend and help to increase the online business. Thank you for this post, simple, straightforward and helpful! Laura from SterlingStore website.

Jessie Ford

Amazing post! I’m using http://getresponse.com and I’m glad that you give us some useful advices to improve our work.